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I have a user (non-root) which has a ~/.bashrc file with some aliases in it.

But it doesn't look like the file is executed at log in time. If I do source ~/.bashrc then it does what it's supposed to. But isn't ~/.bashrc supposed to be executed every time I log in?

Permissions are set to 644 (same as my root's .bashrc, which works fine). File is owned by the user in question.

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  • This is one of the several annoyances ksh users experience when dealing with bash. ksh sources automatically .kshrc in a login shell but bash doesn't source .bashrc in the same context. You have to do it explicitly.
    – jlliagre
    Nov 18, 2011 at 0:29

1 Answer 1

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~/.bashrc is for non-login interactive shells. Login shells source ~/.bash_profile (or ~/.bash_login or ~/.profile). Sourcing your ~/.bashrc there will allow you to have common settings.

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  • 1
    Or source .bash_profile from .bashrc, which might make sense when you primarily use interactive shells.
    – janmoesen
    Nov 3, 2011 at 19:55
  • I've felt the need to do things for login shells that weren't done for interactive non login one, never the reverse.
    – AProgrammer
    Nov 3, 2011 at 20:47
  • Hence "might make sense": I know it can come across as backwards. :-)
    – janmoesen
    Nov 3, 2011 at 21:32
  • Is it possible to configure a redhat system to ignore .bashrc when running non-interactive jobs? I use a cluster that seems to actually use the .bash_profile (mine then loads the .bashrc). Without the .bash_profile, the jobs can't find the stuff that I've added to the PATH in the rc file
    – user632657
    May 1, 2017 at 19:41

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